Back on Mattole Road, headed northwest towards Cape Mendocino, I was surprised at how much better this road now seemed. It was a breeze to drive 40 minute stretch, passing through Petrolia and Cape Town along the way.

It was roughly 1:30pm when we pulled into the only location that allows access to the beach- a small gravel (probably not intended as parking) area which has a plaque commemorating Cape Mendocino Lighthouse. It was almost 2 hours before low-tide, a good time to start the walk. It was also extremely windy and very cold and we had to put on our winter clothes for this trek.

Having failed to reach the westernmost point in California almost exactly 3 months to that day, I was really determined to make it all the way this time.

The path to get to the ocean from our parking area.

We set off on the tiny path to the ocean, and within moments were on the black sands beach. Everything about this trek was a lot easier this time around than back in early July. The weather was warmer; I had the right shoes, a beanie, gloves, a coat, and a fellow hiker willing to go the distance with me. Most importantly, the tide was pretty low, allowing us a greater freedom in choice of where to walk. We chose closer to the ocean where the sand was fairly wet from the earlier high tide. The wet sand was packed tightly and allowed for a smoother trip.

A reminder of the power and danger of the ocean.

Along the way, we came across a disturbing image of a dead seal, quickly reminding me of the danger and power of the ocean. I know I took an almost as disturbing a picture of a dead fish last time- and I’m not into dead or horrific things- but these sights seem to affect me in some way that I don’t know how to express.

Sugar Loaf Island was deceptively close the entire time (much like Punta Gorda Lighthouse was). I ultimately realized that during my last trip, I probably only made it about 1/3 of the way to Sugar Loaf and the western edge of Cape Mendocino. We kept on walking and walking, through the left twisting bend in the coastline, right beside the ocean, coming across some fairly large sized rocks which were easy to maneuver around with the water nowhere nearby.

Getting closer. This was much further than I had made it last time, and yet quite far away.

Past the large rocks, almost there.

Just about at the westernmost point, the sand was smooth and easy to walk on at this point. Or maybe I was just too excited.

After the rocks, we hit some wet flat sand which led us all the way to the westernmost point in California, and also very close to Sugar Loaf Island. Finally, Punta Gorda Lighthouse, Cape Mendocino and Sugar Loaf Island!

Setting my feet at the westernmost point in CA.

Standing at the westernmost point.

Can’t go any further west.

Satisfied by the conquest, I turned my attention up the Cape Mendocino mountain (not sure it’s actually called that) and noticed the location of the old Cape Mendocino Lighthouse. Virtually nothing is left over there from what I could see… besides a couple antennas and what seemed like an automated structure which I believe had a light and I’m guessing an automated fog horn.

We had the remainder of our food out on a few rocks near Sugar Loaf Island and eventually walked back to the car.

As we started driving back to Ferndale around 4pm or so, I was determined to find the location of this supposed path that would take me to the former Cape Mendocino Lighthouse area. For some reason (I swear it was covered by trees/bushes/shrubs last time) Tobia and I couldn’t locate it last time, but this time it was obvious. I parked the car on the side of the road and ran up the path to check it out. Sure enough, explicit signs said to keep out. Marc and I were pooped at this point and thought it best to return to the motel.

Finally, I found this path to the old lighthouse location. It really is right off Mattole road. Still can’t figure out why we didn’t see it last time.

Sure enough, this was gated. Alone the gate wouldn’t have stopped me…

But when I saw this sign, took into account the fact that we were tired, and finding a challenge for next time (?) I was ready to call it a day.

I’ve already started entertaining the thought of obtaining permission to get access to this private land and going out to see it (spring 2008 would be nice). Any volunteers for the trip to the privately owned, former Cape Mendocino Lighthouse area???

My first ever- a 1/3 shot of kettle one vodka to celebrate a great day.

Two exhausted hikers. I could only toast with water at that point.

We got back to Ferndale just before 5pm and met up with Tobia. Those who know me well, know I don’t ever drink alcohol. However, I had to do something special on this occasion to commemorate… so I had a 1/3 shot of kettle one vodka. It was foul and awful, and burnt like hell going down, but felt very celebratory.

After showering we went to have dinner at Ivanhoe, literally across the street from our motel. We feasted whole-heartedly and went back to the motel to watch TV, bum around, and ultimately crash really hard.

Roughly an hour after ordering, we got our food, ate heartily, and Marc and I took off on Mattole Road to begin our drive to Punta Gorda Lighthouse. We drove south past Cape Mendocino, cutting inland before Punta Gorda. Turning off onto Lighthouse road, we drove this poorly paved road for a while. There were no signs anywhere and we merely had to rely on google map’s directions to get us there.

Ridge road was a bit nerve-wrecking to drive through.

The directions I mapped indicated that we had to take a left onto Ridge road after roughly 5 miles of Lighthouse road. Indeed, when my odometer showed 5 miles had passed, a scary-as-hell, 35 degree incline, gravel road appeared before us. Figuring surely this was a mistake, we drove out the remaining mile to the end of Lighthouse road where we ended up in a campground. I believe this campground is where most people do their trek out to the lighthouse. Sticking with my map and comparing with the campground directions, I felt pretty sure that it would be better to return to Ridge road and take the other path to the lighthouse.

It was probably the right call walking this instead of driving this.

Sure enough, Ridge road was really tough. Driving a 1996 Honda Civic, I started climbing this hill in 1st gear. Despite the great power of 1st, the car really struggled up this hill, and I think it’s fair to say both Marc and I were pretty tense. Again, with no signs anywhere or a true sense of comfort, we simply continued on Ridge road. Eventually, we reached a small turnoff to the right, which, according to the map was supposed to be Windy Point road. Ridge road seemed like a smoothly paved highway when compared to Windy Point road. A few hundred feet into this most precarious drive, we came across a green gate. Marc jumped out of the car to read a sign that said that only 4×4s should drive this road. Already pretty nervous, we agreed it’d be best if we just parked off to the side near the weeds and trek the rest of the way down this road.

Still high up above the ocean.

We walked down Windy Point road for about 2 steep miles downhill, fully aware we’d have to climb this road on the way back up. At the end of this road we were finally at the coast line. Punta Gorda Lighthouse was visible at this point, looking deceptively close. After a mile of walking along the black sands beach and also on weeds, we reached the lighthouse. I took some pictures and we climbed to the top, where the lense used to be and had some pre-packed lunches we brought with us.

Finally at the coast line, Punta Gorda Lighthouse in the background.

So much was made of this creek in my readings, saying it would be virtually impossible to cross at high tide. Well, we crossed just an hour after high tide and I didn’t think much of it.

Finally, Punta Gorda Lighthouse! So remote…

Some old, rusty remains of a ship wreck.

Heading back to the car, the climb up Windy Point road seemed to take forever, as the noon sun beat down on us and the temperature got pretty warm. We reached the car tired and sweaty, but glad it was still there.

It was hot and we had already climbed quite a bit from the coast line. We had all of this to look forward to.

So glad the car wasn’t stolen, towed, damaged or otherwise missing.

We descended Ridge road slowly and could see our next destination in the distance to the north- Cape Mendocino. Check back tomorrow for more.

Driving down Ridge road, noticing Sugar Loaf Island and Cape Mendocino up north in the distance.

Headed west to Cape Mendocino.

After my trip with Tobia to the North West Coast of California (around 4th of July) and in particular the Lost Coast, Tobia declared that she did not want to trek the “Quick Sands Beach” again. Of course, her reference to Quick Sands Beach is really the Black Sands Beaches around the Lost Coast. The trip was extremely tough and we failed to reach the westernmost point in California. She mentioned all this to our friend Marc over dinner in SF shortly after our trip… and unbelievably he volunteered to join me on this Lost Coast trip!

So… Friday came along and we picked Marc up in SF right before 3pm. We started driving through the slow afternoon commute traffic up through the Golden Gate Bridge, and Santa Rosa. Once past Santa Rosa, traffic was finally smooth.

Right around sunset we pulled in to eat dinner at Boomer’s Fine Dining in “laid back Laytonville”. It was like a scene from a Wild West Saloon, forks dropping, everything going quiet as everyone looked at us out-of-towners. There was one guy at the bar and one lady serving the entire huge room of hungry folks. We took a seat at the bar and a random gentleman started talking to us about how Laytonville was really laid back and how all they did was grow weed there. I found the guy entertaining.

My delicious, baked, spicy tofu sandwich.

Our suite at the Fern Motel.

After sitting at the bar for about 10 minutes, we were told it’d be at least 45 minutes until we got served, and given the environment, knew the bar-man wasn’t lying. At best, we figured we might eat in an hour. Deciding to move on, we drove all the way out to Garberville, never really seeing any food along the way. Right off Garberville we continued to Redway where Mateel Café served me their delicious tofu sandwich; Marc and Tobia had steaks.
This was the 2nd time for me at this Café, having been there roughly 3 months earlier when headed to Shelter Cove.

Following dinner, we zipped through to Ferndale where we reached our very nice suite at the Fern Motel around 10:15pm. It was a great place to stay at and very conveniently located. We wound down and hit the bed in preparation for a tiring day to follow.